Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Invests $280,000 in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $RCL

Key Points

• Chesley Taft & Associates LLC purchased 895 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., valued at approximately $280,000, during the 2nd quarter, as reported in their recent SEC filing.
• Royal Caribbean reported a profit of $4.38 EPS for the last quarter, beating analyst expectations of $4.04, and has set its 2025 fiscal year guidance at 15.410-15.550 EPS.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.75 to $1.00, signaling a strong financial position and providing a yield of 1.2% for shareholders.

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Optimum Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $302.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $235.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $263.00 to $358.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $326.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard D. Fain sold 16,000 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $311.02, for a total value of $4,976,320.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 150,291 shares in the company, valued at $46,743,506.82. This trade represents a 9.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Vagn O. Sorensen sold 10,300 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.04, for a total transaction of $3,399,412.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,407 shares in the company, valued at $5,414,966.28. This trade represents a 38.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,507 shares of company stock worth $10,091,282 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.95% of the company's stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE RCL traded up $3.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $329.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,627,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,852,686. The stock has a market cap of $89.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 2.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a one year low of $164.01 and a one year high of $366.50. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $336.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $273.91.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.04 by $0.34. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 20.97% and a return on equity of 47.15%. The company had revenue of $4.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.21 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Royal Caribbean Cruises has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.410-15.550 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 5.550-5.650 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Royal Caribbean Cruises's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. Royal Caribbean Cruises's dividend payout ratio is 22.49%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Profile

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates as a cruise company worldwide. The company operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands, which comprise a range of itineraries. As of February 21, 2024, it operated 65 ships. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.